Business Continuity and Homeland Security: The Challenge of the New Age, Volume 1

I have been teaching homeland security at graduate and undergraduate level since 1999. This book is in perfectly suited for supplemental readings, particularly for classes examining the role of the private sector in homeland security. Virtually all of the authors in this edited volume are well-recognized experts who have years, if not decades, of experience in business continuity. Most were working in this field long before 9/11.

One of the major gaps in higher education security studies - particularly, in courses associated with homeland security - is discussion of the private sector and its needs in preparing for and responding to crises. Those that form security policy (and those that are in undergraduate and graduate academic programs designed to prepare them for that role) have lacked a straightforward, thoughtful reference that describes the issues and key recommendations. McIntyre's and Hancock's first volume fills that role, and - importantly - provides the tools to help us to think critically about the public-private sector relationship during crisis events, and how business can/should prepare for when bad things happen. I recommend this first volume as a baseline for business operations planners, and for management and security faculty as an essential text.